Susan Deacon: "Sensitive and complex"

Campaigners said the step was just a "small step" in the right direction.

The Scottish Executive has refused to offer hepatitis C compensation until now on the grounds that there was no negligence in the case.

However, a ruling by the High Court in England last year paved the way for compensation under the Consumer Protection Act for 114 victims south of the border.

The executive said that lawyers would start talks with those victims whose cases were directly analogous to those covered by the ruling in England.

The English judge said some victims had a right to compensation because they had been given a defective product, blood affected by hepatitis C.

We would have hoped that she would have taken the initiative and offered compensation to all suffers

Philip Dolan, Haemophiliac Society

Ms Deacon said she had reached her decision to avoid people in the same situation in Scotland facing the cost and distress of fighting their cases through the courts.

Haemophiliac Society in Scotland chairman Philip Dolan said: "We welcome the fact that the minister has made a statement on hepatitis C.

"But we would have hoped that she would have taken the initiative and offered compensation to all suffers."

He said it was "a small step in the right direction.

The Haemophilia Society gave a cautious welcome

"It acknowledges the principle of compensation that so far they have denied."

Victims who were infected with hepatitis C from blood products after 1 March 1988 will benefit from the announcement.

Haemophiliacs are thought unlikely to benefit, as the NHS was already supplying them with hepatitis C-free blood clotting products before the Consumer Protection Act came into force in March 1988.

Ms Deacon said: "The issues involved here are both sensitive and complex.

"Our aim is to adopt an approach which is sensitive to the concerns of individuals while recognising the wider implications of any decision for future patient care.

Resolving disputes

"We have sought also to be responsive to the developing legal position in this complex area."

She added that blood and blood productions were now safer than in previous years.

The minister also said the executive was seeking ways of reaching a faster and fairer way of resolving disputes between patients and the NHS without them going to court.

A new NHS complaints system will be implemented next year in Scotland.